Free iPhone Apps, Hacks, News - Free iPhone 5 Too!

The iPhone is a touch-screen multimedia and Internet-enabled quad-band GSM EDGE-supported mobile phone designed and sold by Apple Inc. It combines the iPod, wi-fi, and the phone capabilities all together into one beautiful gem. Get the latest free iPhone apps, iPhone hacks, iPhone rumours, and iPhone news... and learn how you can also get a free iPhone too! Seriously.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

And they just keep coming in. The latest iPhone-related lawsuit is aimed not only at the iPhone maker, but at the exclusive iPhone carrier (AT&T), as well as Mr. Steve Jobs himself. The suit was filed on September 24 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Queens. The plaintiff, Dongmei Li, alleges that the iPhone “trio” is guilty of price discrimination, underselling, discrimination in rebates, and deceptive actions in the recent iPhone price cuts that left early iPhone adopters feeling the pain of the $200 hit.

What motivated Li to pursue legal action? Well, first she waited in the launch-day line for the iPhone. Then she found that the store only had 4GB iPhones in stock, so she bought one - which isn’t exactly a horrible story. But then Apple slashed the price of the 8GB iPhone and discontinued the 4GB model - leaving Li with an unsellable, discontinued iPhone model.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone Rehacked: iPhone Dev Team 2, Apple, Inc 0

iPhone rehacked?

Unconfirmed sources report that the iPhone Dev Team has rehacked the Apple iPhone after the latest firmware update. The iPhone Dev Team group that did the new hack was lead by Swedish teen wonder hacker Nutzipper. The iPhone Dev Team claims the rehack was accomplished in just 17 hours and was a group effort that included over 100 volunteer coders. The hack is expected to be posted in a few days as the installer app to implement it is completed.

"It looks like round two of the iPhone war is going to the iPhone Dev Team." Says phone expert Olin Pots. "I gotta tell you I'm not surprised. The iPhone Dev Team is a large group of highly motivated people with nothing better to do. They probably outnumber the Apple coders on this project by 4 to 1. I think it is going to be a losing battle for Apple."

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Downgrade from iPhone Firmware 1.1.1 to 1.0.2 available

The iPhone hacking community is hard at work and the first step in gaining control over the iPhone back again is achieved.

A downgrade process from firmware 1.1.1 to the previous firmware 1.0.2 is available. The downgrade allows you to again run 3rd party applications on the iPhone if you had upgraded the firmware. The iPhone will still remain locked though and you will not be able to phone.Gizmodo published a video and the instructions for the iPhone firmware downgrade. See also the iPhone Wiki entry.

As said in yesterday's story iPhone power users are in uproar because the new firmware disabled 3rd party applications. With the firmware 1.1.1 Apple started the process we all know from the Sony PSP. Happy hacking!

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

This is perhaps how the last of the dinosaurs felt. Thursday morning, there were dozens of wild new programs being developed for the iPhone; on Friday, while those programs are not necessarily dead, their future certainly looks as bleak as if the world was blanketed in a thick heaping coat of volcanic ash.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone Firmware Update Woes

If you’re a Uk iPhone user thanks to the unock methods that were made available earlier this month, then you might be a little worried about Apples new iPhone update.

Apple are pushing out the Firmware 1.1.1 update this weekend. The update brings the iTunes WiFi store to the phone, just like the iPod Touch.

Depending on how your iPhone was originally unlocked will give you different results. “Jail broken” handsets are going to turn in to expensive AT&T paper weights as the 1.1.1 update security has been tightened up.

Users of the open source SIM unlock software are getting an “Incorrect SIM” error message.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple’s growth, an unwinnable iPhone war and a reputation at risk

Apple is clearly in a war with hackers over the iPhone and its most loyal fans could take a few hits. How Apple performs through these battles will determine the company’s overall reputation going forward.

Today’s angst over iPhones becoming iBricks because they were modified is really just the beginning. There are a few reports of non-hacked iPhones going dark following Apple’s latest firmware update. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes and others note that Apple has a PR problem on its hands. These issues could affect how Apple is perceived in its core markets.

The iPhone issues are really just a side effect of a much larger issue. As Apple grows it increasingly loses that feel-good underdog image. It starts looking like every other large company. Apple even starts to look like a bully–even to large media players that merely want to try different pricing schemes on iTunes. To make matters worse Apple is alienating its base. Add it up and customer service declines. Customer service declines won’t happen overnight, but Apple will have issues simply based on numbers–the more customers it has the more people it can annoy. Steve Jobs is treated as a messiah able to leap over options scandals and create a never-ending stream of delightful products, but that won’t last forever.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone Bricked Despite Not Being Hacked?

Given Apple's track record of seamless engineering and just-works interfacing, you would think that only the hackers would end up with bricked iPhones. You would be wrong.

If the 1.1.1 update turned your pristine AT&T-locked handset into a roundrect skipping stone, unable to complete a restore operation, make sure you have the dock plugged into a bare-metal USB 2.0 port on your machine. Macjournals anecdotally reports that USB hubs, including Apple keyboards, may cause updating errors that result in the phone being more or less inoperable after completion.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Gizmodo says Don't buy an iPhone

An iPhone software update has wiped out non-Apple apps, which has upset the gadget freaks.

This week's Apple iPhone update may have bricked a few hacked phones, but this is the least important part of the problem. What probably upset many more early adopters was the way Apple wiped out their applications, reducing their phones to the "official" software. This sent out a very clear message: The iPhone is for dummies. It's not for gadget freaks, who only represent a tiny minority of the market.

The Gizmodo gadget blog has therefore changed its iPhone recommendation to Don't Buy. It says:

Screw the unlock for a second. Let's talk about the those third-party apps. While my 4GB iPhone is a brick, and the 8GB phone, which I kept on a totally legit AT&T contract, is now stripped down. Programs like the faux-GPS, IM clients, Flickr Upload, and NES emulator -- what did they ever do but make the iPhone far better than the stock original? They made it far more competitive with open-platform superphones like the Nokia N95, to which I will now be switching.

As someone remarks in a comment to the post, Gizmodo has gone from "Jesus Christ himself owned one of these (prove he didn't)" to "It's crap, don't buy it" in the time it took to update firmware.

Read the whole article @ Guardian Unlimited

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple's Options for Stopping Open Source iPhone Use

The major reason that Apple wants to stop hackers from creating new open source programs for its iPhone, some analysts say, is that it has signed exclusivity agreements in various countries with service providers such as AT&T, T-Mobile and O2. Because Apple wants these companies to have incentives to continue developing exclusive applications for the iPhone, they say, Apple must make an effort to stop open source use.

"The open source applications are probably affecting AT&T more than they're affecting Apple," says Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a division scientist at BBN Technologies. "I would imagine there's an exclusivity clause somewhere in the contract with AT&T, at least for a particular period of time, primarily so people couldn't go to other carriers."

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Navigating to Nowhere on the iPhone

Steve Jobs undercut what was a promising business move for Mexens Technologies, a New York firm that introduced a navigation software program for the iPhone nine days ago. The company’s Navizon software uses signals from WiFi and cellular to determine the phone’s location, simulating what a Global Positioning System would do.

Since then, the free trial version of the iPhone software has been downloaded 80,000 times, said Cyril Houri, Mexens’s chief executive.

Now, customers who upgrade to the latest version of Apple’s iPhone firmware find that Navizon, and other non-Apple applications, simply won’t work any more, Mr. Houri said.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone's Bluetooth Bug Under Hackers' Microscope

Almost lost in the hubbub over Thursday's iPhone firmware update and whether it would "brick" unlocked phones was the fact that Apple Inc. patched 10 vulnerabilities -- twice the number of fixes issued since the phone's June debut.

The iPhone 1.1.1 update, which like previous upgrades is delivered through Apple's iTunes software, fixes seven flaws in the built-in Safari browser, two in the smart phone's Mail application and one in its use of Bluetooth, the short-range wireless technology.

The seven Safari vulnerabilities include several cross-site scripting (XSS) flaws, one that can disclose the URL of other viewed pages -- an online banking site, say -- and another that lets attackers execute malicious JavaScript in pages delivered by the SSL-encrypted HTTPS protocol. One of the Safari flaws, and an associated vulnerability in Mail, involve "tel:" links, which can be exploited by hackers to dial a number without the user confirming the call.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone gets VoIP tryout

In a demonstration at this year’s DEMOfall07, British VoIP provider Truphone showed conventioneers how to use the iPhone’s built-in Wi-Fi capability to make calls over Truphone’s VoIP network. Truphone representatives demonstrated how a call can be initiated from a handset and then routed to Truphone’s server via Wi-Fi.

Truphone spokesman Tim Donnelly Smith emphasized that the event at DEMOfall07 was only a demonstration and was not intended to be a commercial launch. He also said that the program is a native application that is installed through third-party application installers, and does not require cracking the iPhone’s SIM card. This is significant in the wake of Apple’s declaration earlier this week that “many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet” could render the device “permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed.” Several iPhone users have reported that installing Apple’s iPhone 1.1.1 update rendered their unlocked iPhones useless.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Friday, September 28, 2007

iPhone unlockTeam hits back at Apple’s threat

The development team that hacked the iPhone have issued a statement in responce to Apple’s recent statement on unlocked iPhones.

They have promised that within the next couple of weeks they will have a tool that will restore your unlocked iPhone to it’s factory settings, so no need to worry about the upcomming update from Apple.

Here’s what they had to say:

Based on download numbers, the iPhone Dev Team believes that, worldwide, several hundred thousand people have unlocked their iPhones. That number continues growing every day. The removal of the lock, a bug, was a major step forward in the iPhone development. It made the iPhone free and useful to anyone, not only to those in certain countries.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Yes, we're being a bit mean. But we do it only because we know that, in the end, Apple can still make everything alright, even if it comes well-after the iPhone makes its triple salto into mass-market orbit this holiday season. There's a lot a computer can do beyond make phone calls and surf the web, and chaining this little powerhouse down is a damned shame of PSP-like proportions.

In the meantime, the only thing for it is to get a knitted iPhone, which offers something neither of these rivals can boast: cuddliness.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Does iPhone update 1.1.1 kill off 3rd party application development?

We were all warned by Apple and those of us who SIM unlocked our iPhones knew there was the risk that they could never be updated. Apparently, lots of people (even some who should have known better) must have thought Apple’s notice was just a false warning since they tried to update their iPhones anyways and turned them into iBricks. I knew better than to take another risk since I am very happy with my iPhone in its current state running on the T-Mobile USA network and made the decision to never update it unless there was a reliable hack I could trust not to brick it. Other than all the news surrounding the SIM unlock hack and iBricks, I think the bigger story of this latest iPhone 1.1.1 update may be the complete loss of 3rd party application support.

According to various forums where you can find info on hacking the iPhone, the firmware 1.1.1 update may have made the iPhone structure more like the iPod Touch and locked it down even more with stronger encryption. While I can understand that Apple wants to keep the iPhone locked down to reduce customer service calls and create a consistent experience for all owners, many mobile enthusiasts are used to installing 3rd party applications and customizing their Windows Mobile, Palm, Linux and S60 devices to their particular needs. The web-only 3rd party applications are decent, but many applications work better for people when a connection is not required. Stand-alone 3rd party applications also are more functional than a web widget.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone firmware 1.1.1 released; breaks everything

Today Apple released iPhone firmware version 1.1.1 via iTunes and it appears to be pretty nasty toward unlocked and otherwise hacked iPhones. According to Gizmodo and Engadget the update re-locks unlocked phones and renders the brilliant AppTapp installer and other third-party applications useless.

Features of the 1.1.1 update include:

• iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites of music controls• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar• Support for TV Out• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally• New Passcode lock time intervals• Adjustable alert volume

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Apple patches 10 iPhone flaws

Apple today released 10 iPhone security updates, including 7 within the MobileSafari browser. The update is available only through iTunes and is not available from the Apple Downloads page. The version users should see within their iPhone after applying this update should be 1.1.1 (3A109a). Further, Apple refuses to discuss pending security vulnerabilities not patched here, stating "For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available."

BluetoothThis patch affects users of Apple iPhone and addresses the vulnerability in CVE-2007-3753. By sending maliciously crafted Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) packets to an iPhone with Bluetooth enabled, an attacker within range may be able to trigger the issue, which may in turn lead to unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. Apple credits Kevin Mahaffey and John Hering of Flexilis Mobile Security for reporting this vulnerabliity.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Unauthorized iPhone Apps Market Flourishes

"You can write amazing Web 2.0 and Ajax apps that look and behave exactly like apps on the iPhone," CEO Jobs said at an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June in San Francisco.

"It depends on your meaning of the word 'exactly,'" Schiemann said Monday at the AjaxWorld 2007 Conference & Expo in nearby Santa Clara.

Jobs says Apple will allow third-party software developers to write applications to run on an iPhone, but not be installed on it. Instead, the apps can only be delivered through the device's Safari Web browser. While an endorsement of Ajax from Steve Jobs is welcome, Schiemann and others at the Ajax conference say there are limitations on how their apps can run on Safari, and there is a vibrant community of developers writing apps to install directly on iPhone, contrary to Apple's wishes.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone update thwarts hacks

Apple has released an update for the iPhone which effectively bricks some of the devices that consumers have unlocked over the past months.

Apple had previously warned that the unapproved update, which is intended to allow the phone to operate on networks other than AT&T's, could interfere with the its operations.

Users on several websites, including Gizmodo and the Unofficial Apple Weblog, are reporting that the update causes unrepairable errors. The iPhone in some cases offers an error message about an invalid SIM card and users are unable to leave the error screen or revert the software. Inserting the original sim card won't solve the problem.

The update also caused headaches for users who had previiously performed a so-called 'jailbreak' procedure to allow the iPhone to run custom applications. While the phones updated, most users reported that the installation locks were put back in place.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

IPhone Boosts Google Maps Usage

It would appear Google owes Steve Jobs a round of beers. According to GigaOm, the iPhone has boosted the popularity of Google Maps like never before.

While she didn't give specific numbers, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products, told Om that the company saw a significant uptick in Google Maps usage shortly after the iPhone release in July. That trend has continued for the past two months, Mayer said, and "maps usage hasn’t stopped rising."

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for YouTube, another iPhone feature Apple has promoted heavily. Meyer says that the phone's YouTube functionality has not caused any major upsurge in video viewing. Of course, that may be attributable to YouTube's already gigantic user base, but AT&T's slow-as-molasses EDGE network certainly isn't helping matters.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple Newton to Be Reborn?

Interesting story on AppleInsider today about a new iteration of the Apple Newton rumored to be in the works. The Newton, of course, was ahead of its time--when it came out in 1993, it was still too big and bulky to be true handheld, and consumers weren't quite looking for such a device.

The AppleInsider piece cites insider sources, and provides some specs, too--the fabled Newton device would be 1.5 times the size of the iPhone, and would have a 720x480 display that fills much of the surface (I'm thinking along the lines of how the iPod Touch and iPhone are laid out). And, of course, it would use the multi-touch screen technology we've all become so familiar with since the iPhone's introduction this past summer.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Truphone to demonstrate first VoIP-over-WiFi call on Apple's iPhone

Truphone (News - Alert) will today give the first public demonstration of a Voice over Internet Protocol over Wi-Fi phone call on the Apple iPhone. Chief executive officer James Tagg will make the VoIP call in front of an audience of 350 delegates to DEMOfall 07 in San Diego, CA (News - Alert).

The company will also give a demonstration of an application that mashes up social networking site Facebook and traditional telephony. Any Facebook user will be able to click on a friend's Truphone 'Call Me' button, and a free phone call will be initiated to whichever phone their friend has chosen. This will mean free calls to real phones for everyone in the Facebook community.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Sun slams Apple over Java-less iPhone

Not that it's news in any sense of the word, but Sun's VP of software has issued a timely reminder of one of the biggest problems with the iPhone - its lack of (opensourced Sun tech) Java.

Two billion other phones have it, so why not Apple's fanboitoi? "Fundamentally, they don't like open systems," was Bob Brewin's take on the matter at AJAXWorld. At least the things do JavaScript and Java will eventually make it onto the Jesusphone, he said, but for now Apple is just rainin' on the developers' parade.

That's telling 'em. Sadly, with a million-plus-and-counting sales, I doubt that iSteve is overly moved...

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Register revisits Apple iPhone, finds it ‘bloody marvelous’

"We've already reviewed Apple's iPhone, so why are we taking another look? There are several reasons. First, a different reviewer means a different opinion. That applies to any product, of course, but Apple's claim that the iPhone is 'revolutionary' perhaps justifies an alternative appraisal," Tony Smith writes for Reg Hardware.

"Second, the first review was of a device limited by the shackles of AT&T's two-year subscription requirement. With an unlocked model, this reviewer is much less restricted. Thirdly - and this is the killer, really - having used the iPhone as my sole communications device for a time, I think it's bloody marvelous and I'd like to explain why," Smith writes.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Vaja brings Swarovski bling to iPhone cases

Premium case designer Vaja has announced the Crystal 2, a new case designed for the Apple iPhone complete with Swarovski crystals and an exclusive engraved design. The Crystal 2 starts at $220.

The all-leather case features access to the headphone jack, SIM card and power button, camera access, access to the phone’s vibrate mode button and volume key. When the case is opened you can also the iPhone into a dock or sync cable, and the case covers the iPhone’s screen, but flips open to provide access to all features.

Like other Vaja cases, you have a wide range of customization options, including different color schemes, a belt clip option and personalized text. Some options will add an additional price onto the case; handicraft customization requires 10 days.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

First-ever VoIP over iPhone app: say so long to huge roaming fees

Oliver Starr, a friend who is now offering his considerable expertise to Blognation, writes that he has witnessed the first ever VoIP calls made from an Apple iPhone.

This has been accomplished by TruPhone, a softphone VoIP solutions provider based in the UK.

Not even ready for beta, what I have just referenced is a rather pre-alpha cross-your-fingers-and-hope-it-works setup that, Starr writes in part:

Currently requires the use of terminal on the iPhone to tell the iPhone to use its on-board SIP stack to place the call over WiFi instead of via the SIM card. To use the terminal application, in turn requires that you first Jailbreak the phone using an application like iBrickr or iFuntastic. This is not an application for the inexperienced or the faint of heart.Instantitating the SIP Stack for TruPhone.

Still, Oliver emphasizes that, well, it’s kinda early. TruPhone says it will simplify the application and will add seamless switching between VoIP and open WiFi systems, with the SIM card kicking in when the iPhone is out of open WiFi range.

I agree with Oliver that the real plus-plus will mean an alternative to international roaming fees charged to iPhone users.

ETA to beta is about four weeks, but because TruPhone wants to ensure capacity, this will be one of those invitation-only, limited betas. So if you are tempted, I would advise waiting until enough information is gathered from these early beta testers.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The question is not whether it’s legal to unlock the iPhone …

… the real question is whether Apple is allowed to brick an unlocked iPhone.

My posts on the possibility that Apple will brickunlocked iPhones have generated a lot of feedback. Many of you are wondering whether it’s legal to unlock an iPhone. The fact is that, within the US, it is legal to unlock a phone, and it’s enshrined in law:

Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention of Technological Measures that Control Access to Copyrighted Works

The Librarian of Congress, on the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, has announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) during the next three years.

…

5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.

The question is not whether it’s legal to unlock the iPhone, the real question is whether Apple is allowed to brick an unlocked iPhone. That’s the interesting question, and since I’m not a lawyer I don’t pretend to have the answer, but here are some thoughts:

Apple’s given prior notice that a future update “will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable”

Users will consent to the installation being carried out

Most updates are preceded by a license agreement which says that if things go wrong, well, tough

The warranty doesn’t cover making any unauthorized changes to the device

Apple is under no obligation to make sure that you tweaking remains compatible with updates

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Pondering pay-as-you-go for iPhone data? Might want to think different

Sure, you can put your iPhone on a pay-as-you-go SIM and take your data a few cents at a time... but be warned, you may end up with a substantial chunk missing out of your wallet without noticing that you're leaking cash. TUAW tests the plan and shows us the bill.

I recently had the chance to sit down with my iPhone and a prepaid SIM with a $50 account balance. I really got a chance to see how the iPhone would function with a pay-as-you-go plan and its data plan.

What I learned was this: although using iPhone with pay-as-you-go means you can make occasional phone calls when you need to, you'll want to avoid EDGE data and stick to WiFi whenever possible. Here's the complete run-down.

Activating the iPhone

Getting the iPhone to activate with the new SIM took longer than I expected because I was using an updated version of iASign and I forgot one basic rule: You need to deactivate your phone first before trying to reactivate it with another card. This cost me almost a half hour of frustration until I finally remembered.

A paperclip let me remove the old SIM and swap in a new one from a cheap disposable Motorola phone. Then I used iASign to deactivate the iPhone(./iASign.mac --deactivate), to check the state of the iPhone (./iASign.mac --state, which should return deactivated), and then to activate (./iASign.mac --automatic iPhoneActivation_private.pem). You may wish to use its backup feature before doing the deactivate/reactivate.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

20 Step Plan Emerges to Re-Lock Your iPhone

You have to give it to the iPhone hacking community, they’re an ingenious bunch.

After the thinly veiled threats of yesterday from Apple, the iPhone hacking community is trying to figure out how to safeguard their unlocked phones from the pending firmware update. One forum user over on MacNN has come up with a 20 step plan he feels will work, but he makes no guarantees. About the only thing missing is the use of a rubber band, but I may have missed it

Essentially you have to get the locked files back on your phone, and it involves a lot of file renaming and syncing. The developer of the hacks say it does not appear to break any third-party apps you may have installed, but that could still come in the form of Apple’s update.

So, if you’ve unlocked your phone, and you’re desperate to protect it from a problem that may or may not happen, you should probably at least take a look at the instructions and see if you want to give it a try.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple May "Unintentionally" Kill Unlocked iPhones with Update

Apple warns users that their unlocked iPhones may not work after new software update

Apple recently announced that its new update will likely kill iPhones that have been unlocked to work on to networks other than AT&T, rendering them completely inoperable.

In a statement released by the company earlier this week, the company stated: "Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed."

This statement was immediately followed by Apple's announcement that unlocking the iPhone will result in a voided warranty.

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!